December 12, 2015

Three years since reaching goal

Thanks so much for the well wishes for Jerry! The results of his MRI came back normal, so we are relieved about that. We still don't know what caused the initial symptoms that brought him to the emergency room, but it was probably "just a headache". Unfortunately, the lumbar puncture test brought on a whole host of problems afterward. (Several people mentioned it may have been a migraine, but for a headache to be diagnosed as a migraine, it has to be accompanied by sensitivity to light and/or sound; and/or it has to cause nausea/vomiting. He didn't have those symptoms, so it wasn't a migraine.)

He's had a post-lumbar puncture headache since Thursday afternoon. I wrote about what happened Thursday--he said that headache/backache was the worst pain he's ever felt in his life. After getting home from the ER on Thursday night, he's still been having bad headaches/backaches from the lumbar puncture, but they are progressively getting less painful. He's had to lie flat on his back for most of the past two days. He actually had to call off work for the first time in 13 years yesterday. He was able to get FMLA time approved, though, so he stayed home today as well. He's hoping to go back tomorrow, so we'll see how he's feeling. This whole thing has been rough!
On Thursday morning, before Jerry's post-lumbar puncture headache started, I had an awesome tempo run. I was scheduled for 14 minutes at tempo pace, and I was hoping to be able to do my tempo pace as fast as last week (last week, the pace was 8:23/mi for 12 minutes). I started with a five-minute warm-up, and then picked up the pace to what felt difficult, but a pace I felt I could hold for the full 14 minutes.

I didn't want to look at the pace on my Garmin, but I kept looking at how much time I had left, and I couldn't help but see my pace. I was surprised to see I was running about an 8:15 pace! It didn't feel like I was running as hard as last week, but I was actually going a little faster. That's progress!

As soon as the timer hit 14:00, I pressed the lap button and then walked for full minute before jogging home. It was a tough 14 minutes, but I was thrilled to see that my pace was 8:10! Soon, I may start seeing my pace dip into the 7:00's--I haven't seen a 7:something mile in a very long time.

Yesterday, I spent the day taking care of Jerry (every time he tried to sit upright or stand up, his head would start throbbing again). I bought him the new Star Wars game for the Xbox, so he was able to lie down and play that most of the day.

This morning, I had plans to meet up with Stephanie for my long run. She's not training for anything in particular right now, but she still likes to do a long, slow run on Saturdays. Five miles isn't super long, but she agreed to do it with me, and I love having company on my runs!

My alarm actually woke me up at 6:00 (normally, I wake up on my own at around 5:00 or 5:15). I was SO drained from the past few days. Also, I had taken a Xanax last night before bed, because I was worried about Jerry (Xanax makes me very tired). So, when I got out of bed, I was kind of regretting agreeing to meet so early (7:00), but once I got dressed, I woke up a little.

I wasn't expecting it to still be so dark at 7:00! I take Noah to the bus stop at 6:45, but it's usually just starting to lighten up after that. Today was a very foggy morning, so it was extra dark. Neither Steph nor I had brought a headlamp or flashlight, so the first 20 minutes or so of the run was a little difficult to navigate. I know a perfect five-mile route at the park, but I actually missed the turn onto the bike path because it was so dark, and I didn't realize it until we'd gone about a tenth of a mile past it. So, we had to turn around, but thankfully I'd realized the mistake before we'd gone too far.

We talked a lot about the new Weight Watchers program (Stephanie also counts calories now, but she is tracking both calories and SmartPoints to see how the new WW program compares to the old one out of curiosity). I'm doing the same thing this week--tracking my calories as usual, but also inputing my food log into the WW app. I'll share the results of that on Wednesday. Steph and I shared a lot of the same thoughts about the new WW plan.

Because of our little detour early on, we ended up running 5.23 miles total. It was great to have her company, and I loved getting my long run done before 8:00 this morning! It was fun to check out Smashrun afterward, too. I earned my "5K badge", which made me laugh when I read the commentary:

There were also a ton of Notables for this run:

I think the "hardest hills" part is funny, because I think the only "hill" at the state park has an incline of about six feet ;) But, it's more than any of the routes around my house!

Other than my run, Jerry and I have had a lazy day. He's been trying to get up and move around a bit, but when the headache returns, he has to lie back down. He's getting really frustrated about not being able to do things. Tonight, we are supposed to go to our friends' house for an ugly Christmas sweater party. We both would really like to go, and we've been looking forward to it for weeks, but we'll have to see how he's feeling later on. We may just go for an hour or so to see everyone.
I just realized when I was scheduling to publish this post that today is the 12th. I hit my goal weight exactly three years ago today! It was an easy date to remember: 12-12-12. That was when I reached 133, and I stayed within a short range 130-136ish for nearly a year. While I struggled from 2014-2015, I'm very happy to be back at my goal weight today, three years later.

When I first started losing weight, the odds were stacked against me that I would even reach my goal; and then, once reaching goal, the odds of staying there were (are) even slimmer. I've learned SO much over the past six years, both from losing and then maintaining (and gaining and losing again). I'm hoping that the lessons I've learned will help me to figure this maintenance thing out ;) So far, so good!

It's just recognizing 3.1 miles of the 5.2 I'd run. Since it's a badge, I just had to run a minimum of 5K (3.1 miles) to earn it. If I had gone another mile, I would have earned that and the 10K badge. Make sense?

I found your blog not too long ago and it's quickly become one of my favorites. I'm also trying to build up my speed... I can run around 9:45 for a few miles but slow down drastically after four. Like you, I've been incorporating speed intervals and tempo runs, and those dreaded hills, so I've absolutely loved following along while you progress!

Katie I just wanted to say CONGRATULATIONS on your 3 year maintenance...that's a HUGE milestone :) I've been reading your blog for a while now and just wanted to tell you how inspirational I find you to be...just down-to-earth, here's my life, nothing sensational, just hard work, making mistakes, but learning from them and keeping on keeping on despite that. It gives me a lot of encouragement. Recently I've been reading your blog from the very beginning and I feel like I "know" you now :)Reading about your struggle with bingeing has helped me so much. In fact I just reached my 60 days with no bingeing and I NEVER thought that would happen.And you are making me feel like I want to try running...that's a big one since I don't like to run!I'm glad your husband is starting to feel better. Here's to another great year!

In general, yes--I don't eliminate foods from my diet, but there are some foods that are really difficult to keep around. If I want to eat them, I usually will buy a single serving so I don't have leftovers :)

I'd love to hear from you! I read all of my comments, and if you have a question, I do my best to respond; sometimes, however, I get busy and forget to go back to reply, so if it's important, just email me! :)

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